Word: corbetts
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...developer Michael Corbett strolls around the gardens of Village Homes, his pioneering experiment in ecological living in Davis, Calif., life looks pretty good. Solar panels help keep the houses warm, shared backyards bring neighbors together, and natural drainage irrigates fruit trees. Corbett reaches up to a branch, plucks off a persimmon, and bites into it. "Just right," he proclaims with a smile. Village Homes is one of the world's best examples of sustainable development--it doesn't degrade the environment that future generations will inherit. But only a quarter-century ago, the ideas behind the project were considered...
...Corbett, now 58, was a young homebuilder in the early '70s, when he and his wife Judy began thinking of ways to combine environmental ecology with social ecology, which uses building design to make neighbors more neighborly. The couple bought 60 acres of tomato fields west of downtown Davis and drew up plans for a housing development that would combine residential, commercial and agricultural elements in an unprecedented mix. The houses, which would use the latest in solar-heating technology, would be built in clusters and oriented toward the backyards, which would open onto large common areas. Fruits and vegetables...
Financing was another roadblock. "We went to 20 banks that wouldn't make a loan because the plan was too unconventional," says Corbett. "Everything was untried and unproven." But he and his wife were dauntless. "We never considered giving up," Judy says. "We weren't developers, we were missionaries...
They promised city officials that agricultural runoff wouldn't be a problem because they would use environmentally safe growing methods. And to those who objected to natural drainage, Corbett argued that cities had been built around that concept for centuries before modern techniques came in. As for financing, Corbett finally got help from a small local bank by not telling it about all the ecology business. The only major idea that had to be dropped was a plan to recycle sewage through underground pipes to nourish the orchards. The public health department refused to bend...
...peas, chard and kale. Near him is a physics professor who once specialized in nuclear energy and now prefers the solar kind. There are schoolteachers and state-government employees (Sacramento is 15 miles away), young couples and retirees. Although the houses grew as large as 3,000 sq. ft., Corbett built several 1,000-sq.-ft. units for low-income residents...